Last Sunday, March 2, 2014, Transfiguration Sunday, the dozen musicians of our small Episcopal parish in Forest Grove, Oregon embarked on a project which in the end was a transfiguring experience for all of us. Our project,a fund raiser for the St. Bede Music Ministry, was a Hymn-A-Thon: a marathon singing of one verse of all 720 hymns of the Episcopal Hymnal.

Our day of singing began at 8:00 a.m., included worshipand a “concert hour” during which we sang all verses of over twenty “sponsored hymns,” and ended with a fervent singing of hymn #720 nearly 12 hours later. We were all part of an exalting, glorifying, spiritually changing experience to promote and further excellence in church music.

To quote one singer, “I was periodically overwhelmed by the worship involved in the act of singing hymns- praising God. I don't know quite why I was surprised by that... but every once in awhile I was struck dumb by the message, the music and the act of prayer that we call singing hymns. Thanks be to God!”

You’ll want to read David’s article “Getting Creative – Funding Music Ministry in the Small Parish Church” to discover more about the Hymn-A-Thon concept and promoting excellence in church music. This month's Side Bar is a synopsis of this incredible event. .....JeannineGetting Creative - Funding Music Ministry in the Small Parish ChurchDavid Jordan

In the Minneapolis Airport there is a poster showing a picture of Daniel in the Lion’s Densurrounded by hungry but slightly confused looking lions. The caption is: “We in the 21st Century are not the first people to feel stressed.”

Today in church music we find ourselves in a situation that is not much different than it was centuries ago. We are not the first people to feel that there is not enough support to continue a fine music program/ministry.

The Hymn-A-Thon is such a great idea, I wish it weremine, but it’s not. It has been done before. However the purpose behind the Hymn-A-Thon at our church is what is different from some others. Being a small parish, we as many, due to limited financial resources were faced with drastically cutting back the music ministry. However, whether you are in a large or small parish, there is a core of people who really believe the music ministry is very important and want to see it continue. It is their belief that music helps people worship and become closer to God.

Before you give up and think that your church is too small or too something else to attempt a Hymn-A-Thon, let’s look at this idea more carefully.

First, let’s talk about patrons for a moment.The term “patron” goes back to the medieval ages and through the Renaissance, feudal Japan, Southeast Asian Kingdoms, Aristocracy and right through to March 8, 2014. Patrons were the people and institutions that helped move the arts forward for present and future generations to enjoy and in which to participate. Patrons of the arts as were important in the early ages just as they are today.

ENTER CROWDSOURCINGThanks to organizations like crowdfunding orcrowdsourcing, the definition of who patrons are has expanded. Patronage is no longer just for the very wealthy, but for anyone who is interested in helping support a worthy project.

Instead of giving up and asking, “Why is this happening? Why is our Music Ministry being cut?” say instead, “Our Music Ministry is too important to let go, so what we are going to do about it?” That was the impetus the musicians of St. Bede had to start thinking about what could be done to mitigate the cuts proposed to their music ministry.

One Sunday morning, a choir member showed up with a newspaper article about a Hymn-A-Thon Trinity Cathedral in Portland had recently done. Their event raised funds to support their choir’s upcoming English tour. We thought, “well, we wouldn’t be raising funds for a tour, but a Hymn-A-Thon could work equally as well to raise funds to further our small parish music ministry.” Three weeks later, on the date we had chosen to “make something” happen, we held our own St. Bede Hymn-A-Thon.

What might surprise you is the number of people who really do believe in what you are doing. We can become myopic (see paranoid) in our vision and think that people are not interested in maintaining or furthering excellence in church music. However, as we found, there are a great number of people that respect and value the traditions of the past and want to sustain them for the future.

Enter the Hymn-A-Thon – the singing of ALL the hymns in your hymnal in one day

· FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANTLY YOU REALLY HAVE TO WANT TO DO THIS AND BELIEVE THAT IT IS IMPORTANT. You have to believe that it is important to have great worship music, in our case, the music of our strong Episcopal tradition. Only then will things will start to fall into place.

· It’s like crowdfunding in a way. Each person in your little choir or church knows a number of people around the country or even the world who they can ask for donations

· Not everyone you know will want to participate but there are many that will be glad to help in some small or large way

· Think about it, if everyone you know on your email list would donate the cost of going out for a large fast food meal or a small fine dining appetizer, you would be able to push forward and bless the church with great music and without apology.

What happened at St. Bede was that in three short weeks the musicians got behind the Hymn-A-Thon idea and helped friends and relatives understand the importance of the music ministry in our church. Many people supported us even if they weren’t part of our local church. People from around the country, in fact, became patrons and generously pushed our St. Bede Music Ministry forward into the future. We raised over $3500.00. That's a great boost to our Music Ministry.

Because of time and space we won’t go into the whole process here, however we would invite you to contact us for some suggestions and direction if you are interested. The blessings you will receive from singing hymn after glorious hymn (720 in our case) will amaze and astound you.